Rugby 7s

The Australian Rugby Union women’s and men’s 7s teams have been rated as progressing and on track respectively. Both qualified for the Rio Olympic Games in 2015. The women qualified by ranking third in the World Rugby Series and the men when they won the Oceania Qualifying Competition in Auckland in November.

The women had particularly strong World Rugby Series results including winning the London Sevens tournament and finishing runners-up at the Dubai, Sao Paulo and Netherlands tournaments.

The Narrabeen centralised 7s program has had some structural challenges including the loss of the director of 7s/men’s head coach and the men’s strength and conditioning lead. The ARU subsequently reviewed the combined program’s structure and enhanced its capability to fill the positions in order to provide appropriate service support to both teams. This included significant additional investment by the ARU.

Although the ARU reports an overall deficit of $6.3m for the past period, it has worked to increase internal funding levels to the 7s program.

The ARU is delivering national developmental programs. It has significantly improved access to younger players with the investment in three talent identification and development positions, state and national youth team programs, training sessions in the state, and a series of live-in camps and tournament preparation assemblies. Several new 7s players have emerged through senior and youth national championships.

Governance

Australian Rugby Union is performing well in adopting the MSGP. There has been evidence of a robust engagement process and collaboration with member bodies to develop the 2014–16 strategic plan. Gender balance on the ARU board should be a priority of the board, and nominations committee. Appointing an external, independent CA or CPA to the organisation’s audit and risk committee is also a priority.